Maryland state judge Steven I. Platt “has knocked down a class-action settlement involving late fees on telephone bills, saying the attorneys’ request for $13 million in legal fees was excessive”. Under the terms of settlement of the four-year-old lawsuit, Verizon Maryland had agreed to set aside an impressive-sounding $51.9 million for refunds, but in fact only 18,000 of the 2-million-plus eligible customers submitted claims for their refund of (in most cases) $6, “making the settlement worth less than $200,000.” “Virtually all of the money on the table would have gone to the lawyers, and only a very small share would have gone to the class members themselves,” said Michael J. Quirk, a staff attorney for Trial Lawyers for Public Justice, which opposed the settlement. (Caroline E. Mayer, “Md. Judge Cites Legal Fees In Rejecting Phone Accord”, Washington Post, Nov. 18).
Chronicling the high cost of our legal system
Schools for Misrule
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